Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63391 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63391 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
“Of course, baby,” Katya answers affectionately. “Just don’t run, okay?”
Kira nods solemnly and skips away before Katya finishes her sentence.
“I said, don’t run,” she mutters, and I chuckle.
“Technically, skipping isn’t running,” I point out, and she just shoots me with a withering stare.
Katya shifts Alina into my arms again and runs her hand down Nikolai’s soft hair, brushing away a crumb from his cheek.
“You know,” I say, watching her touch each child as though she’s grounding herself through them, “I still don’t understand how I got this lucky.”
Her eyes flick up to mine, amused. “You kidnapped me into an arranged marriage. Ringing any bells?”
I grin. “I did not kidnap you,” I argue. “You could have left any time you wanted. If I remember correctly, you eventually realized that you could never live without me and chose to stay.”
She rolls her eyes but can’t help the smile that breaks through. “It was coercion,” she teases, before pressing her lips close to my ear. “Because you were really good at giving me orgasms.”
For a fraction of a second, I forget that we’re in the middle of a crowded room, and all I want to do is push her against a wall and take her right there. Then Alina moves against my chest and breaks the spell. I start counting down the seconds until we’re finally alone again.
“You’re perfect,” I say quietly, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear, the most I dare touch her in the middle of this crowd. “I don’t say it enough, but I’m proud of you. What you’ve done is simply amazing. You’ve built something beautiful. Something that’s entirely yours.”
Her expression softens, and she looks away for a moment, blinking too fast.
I lower my voice. “I know it hasn’t always been easy. I know we started in a way neither of us would’ve planned. But Katya, you’ve turned it into something I never dreamed I could have. A family. A home. And now this.”
“I couldn’t have done it without you,” she whispers. “You’ve always had my back, even when I didn’t think I deserved it.”
I press a kiss to her forehead. “You deserve everything.”
A small voice beside us pipes up. “Papa, someone took the last cupcake,” Nikolai whines with a pout.
Katya laughs and ruffles his hair. “You’ve already had two,” she reminds him, wiping at the crumbs still at the corner of his lips.
He looks at her with the stormiest expression and starts mindlessly moving his fingers as if he’s counting.
“My tummy has room for more,” he finally says, and we can’t help but laugh at our boy’s insatiable sweet tooth.
I hand Alina to Katya and scoop Nikolai into my arms. “Come on, let’s go raid the secret stash I keep behind the drink bar. But don’t tell your mom.”
“You’re paying his dentist bill,” Katya calls behind us.
As I walk away, I glance back at her.
She’s standing there with Alina against her chest, watching the room like it belongs to her. And it kind of does.
She’s still the girl who defied her father, still the woman who challenged me to be better, still the heart that beats in perfect rhythm with mine. But there’s something imperceptibly different about her now. She’s in charge, and she likes it. I like it, too. I love that she’s found the thing she’s most passionate about, and she’s made her dream a reality.
When the night winds down and the last guests leave, we pack up the kids, tuck them into bed at home, and collapse together in the living room, surrounded by half-empty wineglasses and the smell of oil paint still clinging to Katya’s hands.
She leans her head on my shoulder. “How do you think it went?”
“You mean your wildly successful gallery opening where you sold out half your collection, impressed a dozen critics, and got invited to speak at Columbia?”
She shrugs, trying to play it cool. “Yeah, that one.”
I laugh and pull her closer. “I think it couldn’t have gone better if I’d threatened every person there to sing your praises.”
She looks up at me suspiciously. “You didn’t do that, right?” she asks, raising her eyebrow.
I can’t help but laugh. “Of course I didn’t do that, love. Everyone there was so charmed by you, they didn’t even know I was there. Isaac who? That sad, old man in the corner with the three kids?”
She laughs and stretches up to kiss me. “You’re not sad or old,” she argues. “I like to think I keep you young.”
“You definitely do,” I say as our kisses quickly turn from innocent to urgent.
“Think we’ll survive three kids and a growing empire of paintbrushes and onesies?”
I glance down at her, this woman who gave me everything without asking for anything in return.
“We’ve survived worse,” I say softly. “And thrived.”
She nestles in against my chest, and we sit there like that for a while, the house quiet except for the occasional baby rustle or sleepy sigh from one of the kids in their respective baby monitors.